Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Girls in the Band: An Interview with director Judy Chaikin

"The Girls in the Band", a documentary film that captures the stories of female jazz musicians from the 1930s to present time, will be playing in Los Angeles this weekend. Click here for details and ticket information.

I recently spoke with director Judy Chaikin after the film's New York City debut at the Lincoln Center. In the interview, Ms. Chaikin discusses her inspiration for the film, and how her own views of women musicianship evolved throughout its making.

Read full interview after the jump.

Girls on Your Turntable:“The Girls in the Band”
just had its theatrical debut in New York.How has it been received?

Judy Chaikin:Well, it’s been pretty phenomenal. It’s
been a dream come true for a film maker, to have your documentary film open in
New York, get a center spread in the review section of the New York Times, get
a brilliant review, and become “Pick of the Week”, and then open at the Lincoln
Center Theater...there’s not much more you can ask for as a documentary film
maker.So it’s pretty fantastic.

GOYT:I just read that Mayor Bloomberg has
declared Friday, “Women in Jazz Day” in New York City, so that is pretty
exciting as well.

JC: Yes, that is
really exciting.

GOYT:Can you tell me about more about the
film and what inspired this project?

JC:Well, the film is call “The Girls in
the Band” because it’s about the history of women who were instrumentalists and
played in big bands, swing bands, jazz bands and groups, everywhere from the
1920s to the present day.And most
of them had never been heard of by anyone outside their immediate circle of
friends, and certainly not by other musicians and when I started learning about
these women, it was very eye opening to me because I’m from a family of
musicians and studied music as a child, and I never knew that any such thing as
women big bands or women who played instruments in big bands, or any of
that.And the way that we started
making it was a friend of mine called me up and told me that she had met a
woman who was 90 years old who said she had been a drummer in a big band in the
30s.And I said, I don’t think so,
there were never any women in any big bands except the singers.And she said, No, this woman said she
was in a band, and that she had a band and had a complete career in the music
business playing drums in big bands.

So I started to look it up, and when I found her, I found
all of these other women who had played in her band.And then that led me to other women who had played in other
women bands, and before I knew it, I was looking at a world that I never knew
existed.And as it turns out, when
we showed the film everyone else never knew they existed too, including
musicians, music teachers, women instrumentalists of today, and the general
public.So it’s like uncovering a hidden
treasure in our culture.

GOYT:How did you go about locating the women
in the film?And once you found
them, were they receptive to participating in the film?

JC:Yes, I would say that 99% of them were
receptive.A few didn’t want to be
interviewed because they had such bitterness about what had happened to them
and just kind of dismissed it from their lives.But there were many others that were very eager to have
their stories told and felt the same way that I did, that it was a shame that
nobody had ever heard about these incredible women.I mean, they weren’t just women who were having fun, and you
know, having a nice hobby.They
were incredibly talented, musically gifted women who just completely got passed
by by all of the history books.So
we researching everybody, and those that were still alive, we found ways to get
in touch with them either by phone or by email or by letters sometime, and the
receptivity toward what we were doing was terrific.So we started going out and interviewing them, and that was
how we got the ball rolling.

GOYT:I’ve only recently, maybe five years
ago or so, discovered the Sweethearts of Rhythm and I had a similar
reaction.Once I started reading
about them, it was kind of a domino effect, you just keep discovering more and
more female jazz musicians from that era that no one has every heard of.

For those that aren’t familiar with these women, what are
some of the standout musicians that you think we should know about?

JC:I think that Vi Redd is probably one of
the most important musicians.She
was a saxophone player who at the time many of her contemporaries thought that
she was on a par with Charlie Parker.She was that inventive, that creative, and that talented.And her story is just so little
known.Her work is so little
known.It’s just amazing to me
that people do not know about this woman who was a giant of jazz.

And of course there is Mary Lou Williams, who does have a
lot of recognition, but most people generally do not know about her.So that was pretty amazing for me as
well.

GOYT:I’m sure finding archival material was
a challenge given there is so little documentation of these women in their
day.Was it difficult to find
footage for the film?

JC:It was very difficult because not only
were the women not written down in the history books, they weren’t recorded the
way that men were.So it was very
difficult to find information on them.What we did find, a lot of it came from Europe because many of the women
went to Europe to have careers, and in Europe they have much more acceptance
and much more awareness of them, so there were clips of them performing in
Europe.We found some stuff in the
Smithsonian and in the National Archives that was very valuable, but was in
terrible condition.Some of it we
had to have the footage restored because it was unusable.You know, it was just a long, hard
process.We had five researchers,
and they worked for five years.So, it was not easy.

GOYT:Well, the hard work paid off in good
results.I know the film is
getting good reviews and hopefully it will reach a wide audience.

Now, you mentioned that you grew up in a musical
household.How did you perception
of female musicians change or evolve as you made this film?

JC:Well, you know like everybody else, I
had a similar prejudice about women musicians because I felt they just weren’t
as good as men, that they were kind of a novelty act and that’s why they had
never reached the highest echelon in the music business.And when I started researching these
women, I realized there was a systematic effort to keep them out of the music
business, and that it had nothing to do with their talent.They were every bit as talented.But you know, you get that into your
head as a woman you think that, “Well, maybe they’re right.”It’s a typical mental approach of the
oppressed—to think that in some way, they are rightfully oppressed.It’s the, you know, Stockholm syndrome
or whatever you would call it.But
women began to believe that about themselves and it wasn’t true.And only now have they crossed the
threshold where they don’t believe that anymore.Now they know they are as good as men as musicians.

GOYT:In talking to modern day musicians, how
has that perception changed?Or do
you feel there is still a sense of oppression and sexism in today’s music?

JC:Oh yes, it is still there.That will probably always be there to
some degree.But it is certainly
breaking down and there are certainly many young men that understand that the
music is what is important and it is not the gender, it’s what is coming out of
that horn.And it doesn’t matter
that what’s coming out is from a man or woman playing it, it’s the music that
counts.

GOYT:When talking to the older women musicians,
is there any particular story that stood out?What was the most horrific story you heard?

JC:Well, I think of course the most
horrific stories came from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm when they
were traveling through the South and they not only faced oppression as women,
but they faced oppression because they were black.And that was really horrific.And, you know, these were young girls.They were out there to play music and
they were being treated in these horrible ways by racist cops and people who
jeered at them and that was a horrible part of our history--horrible part of
our society.And yet these young
girls were brave enough just to go on doing what they did despite anything.And it shows you the bravery of these
young women.It was
remarkable.

GOYT:You began this project at a fortunate
time, as many of these women are passing on.For those women still with us, what is their general
attitude now that they have had fifty plus years to reflect on their
experience?Did they offer any
insight to what they might have learned from going through these
hardships?

JC:I think most of them are really happy
about the young women that are coming up, and they realize that the effort they
put in in their lives was not in vain, that they paved the way for some really
brilliant young women, and the young women are taking the ball and running with
it.And nothing could make them
more happy.Those who are still
alive and are able to come to the screenings are so joyous at what they see of
the young women.It’s really come
full circle for them.So they are
very happy.

Unfortunately it’s at the end of many of their lives and
some of them have passed away since we have started, and others are not in
physical condition to be able to attend the screenings.But we’ve got them all copies of the
film so they can see what is was, and they are all happy about it.

GOYT:Are there any particular new artists
that have stood out for these women?

JC:Well, there is the typical new artist
like Esperanza Spalding.The young
women on the scene—Anat Cohen is especially impressive to them.They love the Diva Jazz Orchestra.All of the women that played in big
bands are just crazy about the Diva Jazz Orchestra.So there are quite a few.Hiromi Uehara, who is a Japanese pianist, is quite
wonderful.So they are definitely
interested in the young girls.

GOYT:As a long time listener of Marian
McPartland’s Piano Jazz, it was always neat when she would connect with the
younger musicians.There was such
a mutual respect for each other, it was fun to just listen to them play and
talk about their different experiences in music.So I can imagine conversations like that will continue as
the film comes out and more people are able to see it.

And speaking of that, I know it is screening in New York
this weekend and going to Los Angeles later this summer.Is it being picked up by many theaters,
or what are the distribution plans for the rest of the year?

JC:We don’t know our distribution plans
until we finish our LA run.

GOYT:Will there be a screening in the Bay
Area?

JC:We sure want to have a screening in the
Bay Area.We have so many requests
from the Bay Area that I know eventually we will have to get up there.Anyone that wants to follow us can join
our mailing list by going to our website, which is www.thegirlsintheband.com, and
there is a place to contact us and we will let you know when the film is coming
in your direction.